


The Cyborg

by AviraEriya



Category: Original Work
Genre: Cyborgs, M/M, Other, The Author Regrets Nothing, author knows nothing about building cyborgs, sort of steampunk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-25 00:14:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16650604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AviraEriya/pseuds/AviraEriya
Summary: Society has fallen, in a way.No longer are there 'minorities' in the sense of religion or race, instead the 'minority' are the cyborgs-Half human, half machine beings that are treated less than dirt.So when Christopher Floyd, a Cyborg who is 17 years old, is found beaten by a mysterious and handsome stranger, he is forced to trust him so he doesn't shut down (and risk being taken apart). What is in store for him down the road?





	1. Chapter 1

Oh, this wasn't good...

Me and my damn fights again, huh. This wasn't good at all. Another spark flew from my wrist and I felt that one race up my arm and stop at the metal barrier separating my real shoulder from my fake arm. My damaged eye took in the situation- a quick scan told me I needed to get help or my systems would reboot, with or without my permission. Groaning and swearing, I hobbled down on my metal leg as best as I could, trying in vain to get to the mechanic. My real leg was tired, and so stiff, I felt like I could never move it again. But I trudged on, before I could go no more. Giving a pathetic half sob, I waited.  
Cyborgs were the minority, the second class, and as soon as I was spotted I was going to be taken apart and used as scrap metal, my real self left to die. Was it my fault I was half metal? Was it my fate, that I be mistreated, hated, gone? Leaning up against the alley wall, I saw a warning fall through the retina of my right eye, my organic eye closed from exhaustion. But there was nothing I could do. My right wrist had been torn to shreds- the wires were frayed, and my nervous system had been wrecked. There was nothing I could do. Sighing, I closed my other eye- my inorganic one, and said,

"Hard shut down, full mechanical reboot. Singe wires to keep further damage--" I was cut off when someone crouched in front of me. Flinching away, I raised my flesh wrist in a half attempt to protect myself.  
The person in front of me chuckled, and I opened my real eye. It was a guy, about my size, with brown hair and gorgeous blue eyes. He smiled down at me. 

"Hey. You look like you need help. May I?" He offered his hand to me, and I reached up with my metal arm before it fizzed and threw a spark. Yelping, I pulled it back to me and then reached up with my organic one. He only smiled easily and pulled my up, easily dodging the new spark that flew up from my arm. This one caught fire on my shirt and he quickly patted it out, still smiling. I tried to balance, but fell back on my butt when my metal leg gave out. The guy pouted and crouched down, looking adorable. 

"Oh, that's not good. How much of you is metal?" I cleared my electronic vocal cords and tried to speak, but only static came out, and I whimpered. The guy tsked. "Metal in your throat too, huh. Let me see what I can do." He crouched down and took a screwdriver out of his pocket. No. No no no no no. Raising my left-organic- wrist, I shook my head and made another whimper noise.  
The last time someone had tried to 'help' me with a screwdriver, they'd 'accidentally' dis-attached my arm and crushed it to bits. My back up vocal cords finally booted and my voice came out sounding like a monotone speaker. 

"No screwdrivers, please. Please. I'm already damaged beyond my own repair. I just need to be taken to my mechanics. He can..." They faded into static and another warning raced across my retina, telling me that my systems were failing. He frowned. 

"Alright, I'm cool with that. I'm still human, so you'll have to keep your sparks minimal, but I can help you. Um, can you pull up a trail of your mechanics, or a picture?" Frowning, I nodded and searched my mainframes, finally finding a picture. 'Marv's Automotive Repair'. My retina projected the shaky and static picture. The guy got excited.  
"Ohh, I know where that is!" He carefully pulled me up by my organic wrist and slung it over his shoulder, and I tried to straitened my organic leg, my bionic knee responding and giving me shaky stability. He whistled. "You're pretty durable. I'll ask you what happened when this Marv dude fixes your vocal cords, huh?"  
I nodded, my cybernetic neck making a horrible straining noise. He winced and guided my head to his shoulder. "Hey. Rest up. We're almost there. See?" It was, right up ahead of us. Sighing in relief, I allowed both of my eyes to slide shut and he opened the door.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hello? Marv? Mechanic dude?" Marv came out of the automobile part of the shop, and he caught sight of me. 

"Christopher Floyd! How did this happen?!" I tried to speak, but all that came out of my mouth was static. Marv groaned, and hoisted me over his own shoulder.  
"Well, come on kid. You helped him here, so I guess you can watch repairs." The attractive guy nodded. 

"Alright, thank you sir." Marv flipped the switch, and his fluorescent lights on his sign turned off, and he lugged me off to the operating table. After setting me down gently he frowned. 

"Turn yer head, I can't get ta yer ISB port." Doing as he said, he pulled the long skinny cord out of the computer and plugged it into the small box shaped port. A long stream of images appeared on the screen, and he frowned.  
"The police again?" The police indeed. They had began the fight by tazing me, and that had damaged most of my synthetic nerve receptors. The rest of the pictures showed the rest of the story, how they'd began stomping on my body and breaking the rest of my limbs. Marv sighed and left me plugged in, grabbing his screw driver and pressing a button on his computer. It caused my throat panel to pop open, and he began fixing my vocal cords.  
The attractive guy sat at attention, and Marv looked up briefly. 

"So, name?" The boy smiled charmingly. 

"Jasper Wilson, sir. May I ask a question?" Marv grunted his affirmative, and Jasper continued. "So how much of him is actually metal?" Marv grinned. 

"77%. Another 10% is silicon, 10% is wires and nerve receptors, and the remaining 3% is organic." Jasper whistled low. 

"That's actually pretty high." Something clicked in my throat and Marv grinned. 

"Try talkin' for me, Chris." Frowning, I cleared my throat. 

"Voice online. Please wait." The first part was fuzzy and staticky, but then it evened out smoothly. "It's working, Marv." Marv gave a hoot. 

"Yahoo! I also fixed yer backup voice generators; give those a spin for me." Using my database, I switched over. The monotone voice came back. 

"These are working too, Marv." He grinned.

"Yes! Alrighty, what do ya want fixed first?" Thinking, I lifted my bionic wrist. 

"This, if you could." He nodded and pressed another button on his computer, and several panels opened this time, revealing my wrecked wrist. He bent over and began working as I switched back to my normal voice and turned to Jasper. "Thanks for back there, by the way. Sorry for throwing sparks at you." Jasper waved his hand dismissively. 

"Oh, no problem. You needed help." Marv grunted. 

"Not many people would'a helped a Cyborg, kid." Jasper nodded seriously. 

"I know. And with how much you're a cyborg, you would've been killed before I found you. Cyborgs fascinate me, I guess." Marv snorted. 

"Ah, we're in the same boat, then." Nodding, but carefully due to the ISB still plugged in, I'm smiled. 

"Thanks." Marv hit a sensitive nerve in my wrist and I gave a strained gasp. "M-Marv, careful!!" He winced and said, 

"Sorry, sorry. I forgot that you still have an organic nerve in there." He poked it one more time, grinning when it made my arm twitch and spasm. I sighed.

"Marv..." He chuckled slightly, but began picking up pieces of scrap metal from below the operating table. 

"Don't 'Marv' me. I'm going ta have to replace four panels from this wrist of yers." He began unscrewing the ruined panels and clicked his tongue. "You even managed to singe some'a yer wires, and rip some." He looked up at the table, a few paces away. "Jasper, could ya grab the electrical tape for me? And a few screws." He nodded and handed Marv the tape. 

"Here's this, and what size, small or big?" Marv looked down, contemplating. 

"Extra small." Jasper nodded and walked off. Marv turned to look at me seriously while getting up to heat the metal so it would bend easily. 

"Did'ja get found out?" I shook my head, sighing down at my wrists. 

"No, the police didn't even think to check my ID. They were more interested in trying to destroy me." Marv nodded. 

"Good. I need to get you a fake ID and fast. I... You can't be found out, Sir Floyd." I winced at my formal title.  
The 'government' was the Royal Family, the Everets. They'd tried and succeeded in murdering my family, everyone except me. This was one of the reasons I was now a cyborg. They'd burnt my house down, and I hadn't made it out in time. Marv had found me smoldering in the ruins, looking for valuable items to sell off, but after seeing me, he helped me out. He'd made me into a cyborg. 

"He.... I'm pretty sure he didn't figure out. Positive. Everyone thinks Crown Prince Christopher Floyd is dead." Marv nodded, and started patching up my wires. He knew I was still sensitive to their deaths. He opened his mouth to say more, but Jasper wandered in. 

"I found 20 of them, will that be enough?" Marv nodded, placing some of the heated metal on the wires and bending it to fit snugly in a rough wrist looking fashion. 

"I'll have ta make a better one, but that'll take a mould and a few more tweaks. But for now, this should keep you okay, and yer wires protected." I nodded. 

"Thanks, Marv. This will do perfect for now. Can you log into my mainframe and fix the bug in my head? The police inserted it, and I can feel it messing up my sensors." He nodded and wheeled over to his computers, quickly logging into my system and hacking past the fire wall I put up for protection. He clicked his teeth. 

"Bug, my ass. This is malware, some type a' virus. Looks like I may have to take out yer chip and give ya a temporary. Plus, I'll have ta update yer malware protectant and firewall." I nodded and he opened a new file, and tweaked a few things before I felt my internet connection and wifi disconnect and felt my sensors lower themselves almost completely. He chuckled at my wince. 

"Sorry, Chris. I'm goin' to have ta bring you back ta human levels until I fix yer control chip." I nodded. 

"Do what you hafta." He nodded, then unplugged my USB cord. 

"I'm goin' ta do those for now. Anymore wires that need ta be taped you can do that yerself, right?" I nodded, sitting up, and grabbing the electrical tape. 

"Thanks, Marv. You're the best." He chuckled. 

"Yeah, I know. Now go, I've got to hack past this bug." I nodded, wandering off the the car part of the mechanical building, Jasper following. He whistled a bit before smiling.

"Wow. He's, um..." I grinned back, supplying, 

"Erratic? Crazy? Cool?" He laughed. 

"Yeah, I guess so. You seem to know him real well." I nodded, keeping my face nonchalant. 

"Yeah, he's like a dad or a brother to me, ya know?" Jasper nodded. 

"Oh, yeah. I can totally relate. So 77%, huh?" I felt my cheeks get warmer- I couldn't blush, but the metal did get warmer. 

"Yeah. I can't remember when I was fully human, though." Lie. I thought about it everyday. Honestly, I missed being human. Jasper regarded me carefully, his blue eyes considering. 

"Mm. I guess so." Then he sat down and watched as I picked up wires and began taping the ends together, not minding the small sparks that ran up my arm. Jasper fidgeted a bit. 

"Anything I can help with?" I bit my artificial lips, thinking.

"I'm okay for now, is there anything you want to do? These sparks are a bit stronger than the ones that I was throwing off earlier." Jasper winced as another one flew off. 

"Yeah, better to keep my distance. So, um, do you go to school?" I nodded, falling back into the normal conversation. 

"Yeah, but I'm in most AP classes. Especially government, business, and history." Jasper whistled. 

"I hate history and business bores me. But I'm in creative writing and poetry." English? Yeah, I could see that. 

"Alright, tell me a poem." Jasper chuckled. 

"Alright, alright. I'll tell you an original, and then mine that I created based off it." He cleared his throat and took a deep breath.   
"'So much depends upon,   
A red wheel barrow.   
Glazed with rain water,   
Beside the white chickens.'"  
He grinned. "That's one of my favorites, and here's one I wrote off of that."   
"So much depends upon,  
A little ball of light.   
Rolling, shifting, changing,  
Finally stopping in the night."  
He grinned sheepishly. I blinked. His voice was a deep melody, rising up and down, a timbre of sound that captivated me. 

"Wow. Those were so pretty. You... Wrote the second one?" Jasper nodded. 

"Yeah, not one of my best, but what the hell." He glanced at the clock, and his composure went pale. "Christopher, I'm so so so sorry, but I have to go. I'm really late to my job." I nodded, feeling my cheeks warm up again. 

"No, it's okay! Go ahead. I don't want you to loose your job." He nodded and waved making his way out the door.

"I'll come here Monday afternoon, meet me there?" I nodded, giving a small smile. 

"Of course, we'll see you there, Jasper. Be safe." He nodded and was gone. Marv came out of the repair shop a few minutes later, twirling my control chip, and said, 

"You like him~" I punched his arm playfully and said,

"Hush, you."


	3. Chapter 3

The next Monday was interesting, to say the least. Jasper was obviously tired, but he smiled and perked up upon seeing me at the shop.  
"Chris!! You're here!!" My cheeks heated up again and I muttered,  
"Yeah, I said I would be here." I was fidgeting, my new wrist slightly twitching. He grinned down at it.  
"Marv works fast, huh." I nodded.   
“Yeah, he's really good at mechanics. I trust only him to do repairs." Jasper grinned.   
"Yeah, I bet it's hard to find someone who will do repairs on a cyborg." I hummed in the back of my throat.  
"You have no idea. They'd make more money turning me in then repairing me." Jasper shook his head in disgust.   
"I don't understand how people can do that. Cyborgs are human, too! Well, at least partway." Chuckling, I scratched my synthetic hair.   
"Thanks, Jasper. That means a lot to me." He grinned and stuffed his hands in his pockets.   
"No problem, man. So. Whatcha wanna do?" I shrugged.

"I don't know, what do you want to do? I was thinking we could walk around and get to know each other, but what do you think?" Jasper nodded and turned, gesturing me to do the same.  
"Sounds good to me. Where do you want to walk?" I thought for a minute, walking beside him. 

"Just to the park? Then we can sit and chat for a while." Jasper nodded.  
"Seems fun. I get can get behind that. So. Would you rather eat ice cream or drink coffee for the rest of your life?" For a minute I stood there. 

"...what?" He grinned towards me.  
"It's a game called Would You Rather. You answer one, then ask me. It'll help me get to know you." I nodded slowly, then thought for a bit. 

"Ice cream, I guess. I can't drink coffee unless I'm like, really tired. Um, would you rather... Have a dog or cat?" Jasper thought for a bit, his lips smiling crookedly.  
"Mm, cats. They're just so elegant. And sleek. Dogs are just like slaves, they follow every single order you give them. Hmm, would you rather sleep or read?"

"Sleep. No contest. Would you rather... Eat spinach for the rest of your life or live without your family?" That one hit me a bit hard, but I masked it with a smile, and said,  
"Eat spinach, definitely. I couldn't live without them." With a jolt, I realized that was the truth. "Would you rather... Give up cake for eternity, or... Give up speech!" Jasper dramatically put his arm over his eyes and said, 

"Give up speech!! I could never live without cake." That lightened the mood and we both laughed cheerily. Then he hummed a bit, and said, "give up your heritage, or... Give up your pride?" His face was aloof, and I eyed him slightly.  
"...Give up my pride. I feel like my heritage would be something that I didn't build, but my family did. I wouldn't have the right to give it up or keep it." Jasper nodded, quiet for a while. 

"See, that's different than me. I would gladly give up my heritage for my pride, because I feel like my pride would be something I could protect my family with." I nodded. Yeah, that was a good point.  
"Mm, I see where you could come from with that. Mm, would you rather sit and watch a movie or run a marathon?" Jasper grinned. 

"Watch a movie, of course. Would you rather... Be blind or be deaf?" I grinned as well, falling back into comfortable conversation.  
"Be deaf. I already know sign language." Jasper groaned teasingly.

"That's so cheating! Why did you decide to learn that?" I grinned proudly.  
"It was required for my social class and for business. Hm, Jasper, would you rather do math or read?" Jasper replied with no hesitation. 

"Read. No contest. Who likes math?" We carried on, walking to the park.  
When we got there, Jasper sat under a tree and beckoned me to sit next to him.   
"Chris, how... How did you become a cyborg?" I hesitated, then gave him the non-Prince version of the story.  
“Well... A year or two back, someone attacked my family and I, leaving us for dead. Marv found me and saved my life, creating cyborg and bionic parts. Nobody really cared about me in the first place, Jasper. And usually, I can disguise my bionic parts, to make them look human." Jasper was quiet for a while, then asked,   
"Why would someone attack you? I feel like there would be nothing to gain from attacking you or your family." His words stung the tiniest bit, but I ignored the sting and said carefully,  
"My family was very wealthy. Money came from attacking my family. Can we... Can we talk about something else?" Jasper nodded. 

"Of course we can." Commotion went at the entrance of the park and we both looked over to see a group of policemen pushing an obviously young cyborg girl into the park with riot clubs.   
My jaw clenched and Jasper went pale. The girl had a whole bionic left side, including her eye and half her brain, oil streaming from her borg eye and real tears streaming from her real eye. My organic wrist clenched and I felt phantom pain in my throat, watching as the club came down again and again on her back. Abruptly, I stood up, making my way over there and disguising my metal parts with a cover of synthetic skin. Jasper scrambled to keep up, sort of hiding behind my enraged figure. Good. When we got over there, the girl's back was a mess of wire, tubing, silicon, and organic material, not to mention covered in blood. As one of the police went to raise his club another time, I said in my 'Prince' voice,  
"Stop." They, startled, dropped their clubs and whirled around to face me. The leader was a sheriff, obviously not very respectable.   
"We'll take over here. Leave." They were too stunned to argue, and left quickly. The young Borg girl was still crying, terrified of us.   
"P-p-pleas--zzzzzz.." Her throat erupted in static, not tech-y enough to have a real voice, but a pre-recorded A.I. voice. I kneeled by her with a gentle smile, my hand on her organic leg.   
“Hey, easy. Easy. I'm Chris, this is my friend Jasper. We want to help." I made sure my eyes showed nothing but truth, trust, something she could latch onto. She cleared her throat.   
"Lies. Humans cannot be trusted." I nodded, glancing to make sure no one else was watching, before letting my synthetic skin seep back into my metal skin.   
"That's true, but I'm not exactly human, am I?" Her eyes were wide, astonished by the sheer technology that went into my design.   
"...brother?" I nodded. Among cyborg communities, which were few, everyone called each other 'brother' or 'sister' when speaking casually.   
"That's right. I'm going to help you stand up. I know your bionic leg is damaged, but is your organic leg okay?" She nodded, the movement making her rusty neck creak.   
"Yes. Broken femur, but I can walk on it." Her eye betrayed just how much that would hurt, calculations running across her vision, so I shook my head and carefully scooped her up.   
The action jolted her back, but she turned the volume down temporarily on her voice so she could give a soundless scream. I winced, but cooled my core, or my version of a heart, so that my temperature would cool down and so she could cool down her systems as well. She relaxed after a moment of adjusting, and cuddled into my embrace. Smiling, I whispered gently,   
"Whose your mechanic, sister?" She bit her lip.   
"Mama, but she is gone to Elgrin." We lived in the big city of Truedoe, but Elgrin was the smaller city over a boundary line. I frowned.   
"Do you have a backup mechanic?" She shook her head, eyes lowered, brimming with tears.   
"No, brother. All mechanics have turned me away. They say I am unnatural that I do not deserve to live." I pursed my lips. 

"Well, first off, they're wrong, so don't listen to them, and second off, you aren't unnatural. This, what happened to us, wasn't our fault, sister. It wasn't. We really shouldn't be persecuted because of it either. But it happens. Is it alright if I take you to my mechanic? He can help you." Her eyes were wide, almost not believing her ears.  
"It is... Not my fault?" I shook my head.   
"No, sister. And you shouldn't have to suffer for it either." She nodded, almost like reassuring herself. 

"It is not my fault. Yes." Then she looked up at me with a big smile.   
"Please take me to your doctor." Chris grinned.  
"As you wish, little lady." Jasper grinned and chuckled a bit, finally making his presence known. The girl gasped and pressed herself into my arms further, already scanning him. 

"He is not cyborg, brother." I nodded, smoothing down her hair.  
"I know, sister. His name is Jasper, and he is a good human. A good friend." She eyed him suspiciously. 

"I do not like him." I smiled.  
"That's okay, sister." She nodded, satisfied, and I took the back roads as we headed to Marv's. When we got there, Marv was under a car, the sound of a drill catching my sensitive hearing. I cleared my throat to let him know I was there so I didn't scare him, (funny story) and then said, 

"Marv? This little girl needs you." He wheeled from underneath the car, before taking in the small Borg girl. She scanned him, but didn't say anything. Marv winced as he saw the blood, and motioned us over to my usual table.  
"Heya, doll. I'm Marv, what's your name?" She eyed him before answering, 

"Giana Nichols." Her AI voice was very straight forward, something Marv hated.  
"Mm. Miss Nichols, do you have an ISB port?" She nodded and held out her bionic wrist, a panel sliding to show a rusty ISB port. Marv raised his eye brow. 

"It's from a computer motherboard. Hmm. And the tech..." As he hooked a ISB into her port, he muttered stuff and did calculations, before he said, "your mother. Is her name Alaina Nichols?" Giana, the Borg girl, cried out and scrambled to get into my arms, totally confusing me.  
"Brother! Brother, he is bad man! He is government based! Brother!" I shushed her as Marv shook his head. 

"No, honey, 'Laina is a coworker. She's a mechanic, like me." Giana looked at me for reassurance. I nodded.  
"Sister, he saved me when I had nothing left. I bet my mainframe that you can trust him." She nodded slowly, and let Marv flip her onto her stomach to expose her ruined back. He gasped in horror. 

"Oh, sweetie." She whimpered.  
"It must be bad, huh?" Marv nodded.

"I'm not gonna lie, hun. It's really bad. I'm gonna have to disconnect your bionic side completely, is that okay?" She nodded, her bionic wrist giving a spasm.  
"Yeah, that's okay with me." She sighed and relaxed into the metal table. "When you disconnect my bionics, it is going to turn me off, so please press this button to turn me back on." She lifted up a ruined shoulder plate to present a dull grey button. Her grey and blue eyes turned to Chris. "Are you sure this is alright, brother?" I nodded, warmth and trust on my face. 

"I promise sister." She nodded, and Marv disconnected her. Her bionic grey eye dulled, and her blue one slid shut, and Marv sighed.  
"Poor thing." Jasper and I could only nod in agreement.


	4. Chapter 4

I chose to stay by Giana's side as Marv worked, fixing wires with tape and oiling gears as Marv needed. Jasper also stayed to watch, wide eyed, as Marv re-wired her and threaded new tubing through her metal spine. Once Marv was done with that, he carefully sewed up the patches of skin that had been torn through and worked on replacing the ratty synthetic hair that covered her bionic side of her head. My protectiveness stemmed off my own experiences, and selfishly, I wanted to make sure Giana was okay. Pondering her technology, I rolled a small wrench through my fingers, letting my pinky loop it back up to the top of my hand. It was a nervous tic, and Jasper watched me curiously.   
"How do you do that?" I glanced at my hand.   
"Oh, this? It was a skill I taught myself when I was young, but after I lost my organic hand, I used it to improve my dexterity in my right wrist. You know, to get used to the wires in my wrist." Marv grunted, giving himself a slight shock.   
"Even though I told him not to. He went through four boxes of wires when I first built him." I blushed and tried to shush him.   
"Marv!!" He chuckled and waved me off.   
"Ain't nothing to be ashamed of. It was my first time building a cyborg. I had a lot of trial and error to go through. And Chris was the perfect partner." Jasper was astonished.   
"Your first time? Holy hell, that's pretty complex!" Marv laughed at that.   
"Building a cyborg, boy. I've built plenty of computers, engines, hell, I've even programmed a few A.I.'s. That's how I was able to recognize Miss Giana's motherboard. From a Windows 10 computer." Jasper whistled low.   
"That's pretty old for a computer. And holy shit. You still built a human from computer knowledge. That's pretty cool." Marv snorted, a light blush covering his cheeks.   
"It's nothing, really." Jasper snorted.   
"Don't give me that. Take a compliment, damn it." He folded his arms. "You're really smart." I laughed.  
"Yeah, Marv. Take a compliment." Marv was burning a bright red, and he coughed awkwardly. Then he turned back to the task at hand.   
"The police are really getting out of hand. You know this shouldn't be happening anymore. And her tech... Did she say when 'Laina went to Elgrin?" I thought for a minute, remembering back, before I shook my head. He tsked. "This is bad, Chris. Just... I've never seen 'Laina do such bad work. An' she's never had a bad opinion on Borgs. An' she should've known that a computer's motherboard would rust with the synthetic sweat and what stress Borg's put on them." I frowned, letting the wrench travel down my knuckles faster.   
"So what did you do?" Marv leaned against the metal table, exhaustion pulling at his brows, and faints scars littering his arms.   
"I fitted her with a new mainframe and half a positronic brain, then re-wired her. Added new sensors. New seeing functions. Completely overrode her computer motherboard. She'll be very disoriented when she wakes up." He regarded me carefully. "Chris, would you be willing to take her home and help her adjust?" Of course. I wouldn't leave her to be alone.   
"Of course I will, Marv. I would never let her go through this alone. She doesn't deserve it. Which brings me to my next question. Marv... How hard would it be for you to completely cover her with synthetic skin?" Marv's eyebrows shot up.   
"Chris...?" He began the question, but then sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Not hard at all, except that I would need more synthetic skin, and my buyer is at Bauer for the time being." Bauer was another city outside of Truedoe, but farther out than Elgrin. This would prove to be a problem. "So unless you can find me two more sheets of synthetic skin, I can't help you. " I bit my lip, silent for a minute, then said,   
"Take mine. She needs it more." Marv eyed me, but opened my control panel and took my synthetic skin chip, implanting it to Gianna easily. The reaction was instant, a sheet of olive brown synthetic skin covered her completely. Jasper spoke up.   
"What would synthetic skin do?" Marv leaned against the counter.   
"Well for one, decrease her chances of being recognized as a cyborg. If she can cover herself with synthetic skin, she can hide her machinery. Of course, if the police knock out her defense mechanism, she's on her own. However, Chris, I did add a hidden knife in her wrist. Can you teach her how to use it for me?" I nodded.   
"Yeah. It's the same as mine, right?" Jasper looked at me.  
"Hidden knife?" Grinning, I let it slide out of the space in my wrist, a deadly little thing.   
"Yep. For self defense." Jasper whistled and inspected it, then stated,   
"Nice piece." Marv grinned.   
"Isn't it? A friend of mine makes the blades. He's a great silversmith." Jasper grinned.   
"I collect knives, actually. All knives, all designs, et cetera." Marv leaned against his work table.   
"What gotcha into knives?" Jasper gave a reminiscent smile.   
"My da used to collect knives. When he died, he passed all of them onto me. He could name their year, make, and maker." Marv nodded.   
"Sounds like a nice man." Jasper nodded, and Marv turned to Chris.   
"Well, you ready to wake 'er back up, then?" I nodded with gentle smile.   
"Yep." Marv turned and pushed Gianna's button, an immediate 'whir' of her gears to wake her up. Then he gentle flipped her so she was lying on her back. Her mechanical eye opened, but wasn't seeing, her organic one still shut. Marv tapped on the table with a gentle smile.   
"Morning, Gianna." Her organic eye opened, and as she focused on Marv, her Borg eye came online and focused. She must've remembered everything, because she sat up quickly, with a cry of,   
"Brother! Brother Chris!" I gently motioned Marv out of my way.   
"I'm here, sister. I'm here. It's okay." She grasped onto my forearm with trembling hands.   
"My head feels different, and my voice sounds different." She lifted a hand up to her face. "And my skin...?" she grasped her forehead. "Brother?" I smiled and took her hand.   
"Hey, sister. We fixed you, and upgraded a few things. And the skin is for protection. You look like a regular human." She blinked up to look at me, her eyes wide and questioning.   
"Upgraded? What do you mean by that?" I smiled.   
"Your motherboard would have eventually stopped working. Marv gave you a positronic brain and a few more upgrades." She say up slowly, her systems whirring as they worked.   
"I feel better. And.... Just different, does that make sense?" I smiled fondly.   
"That makes sense. You did get a whole new operating system." She flexed her hands.   
"...thank you so much, brother. I can't... Just... Thank you." Now that she could, tears welled in her eyes. "I feel... Human again." She sniffled, going to wipe her eyes with a wrist before Marv handed her a tissue. She gave him a watery smile and wiped her eyes, the new clear fluid soaking the thin fabric. Jasper, Marv, and I met eyes over her head as she bent to quietly keep crying. We shared a secret smile.


End file.
